Chris Isaak

**** Chris Isaak, Baja Sessions (Reprise): Chris Isaak has always taken a couple of years to make an album, and the care has shown in both the quality of the writing and the luxurious melancholy of the production. He took a different approach in this follow-up to last year's Forever Blue, striving for live spontaneity and simplicity rather than layered elegance. The result is less polished but every bit as pretty.In fact, the vocals on Baja Sessions are among Isaak's best. Like k.d. lang, he's the type of singer who is even more impressive live than in the studio, and these recordings are about as close to live as you can get. The arrangements are largely acoustic, which suits the warmth and varied textures of Isaak's voice.

It's a fine time to be a photography fan in Florida. Less than a month ago, I reported on a terrific exhibit of Annie Leibovitz portraits on display through June 9 at the Norton Museum of Art (nortonmuseum.org) in West Palm Beach. Now, there's an equally captivating collection of work by acclaimed Los Angeles photographer Herb Ritts showcased at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. Curated by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, "Herb Ritts: L.A. Style" features vintage magazine covers and prints, including a selection of previously unpublished photos.

The expert: Grammy-nominated musician Chris Isaak, whose new CD-DVD hits stores May 9. The product: A guitar. What I want: The main thing a guitar has to do is stay in tune. If the tuning pegs are crummy, you will sound like the opening band at a frat house. Intonation is a guitar's ability to maintain tune. (Quick-test for it: The 12th fret of the fingerboard is midscale, so each string played at that spot should be the same note an octave higher.) I must have: Strings that don't rattle.

The long-neglected west end of downtown Napa is undergoing a resurgence, sparked by a stylish hotel that has blazed a trail for new restaurants, wine-tasting rooms and retail shops. No need for a car; you can walk to everything in this six-square-block area. Adding to the buzz is the Uptown Theatre, a restored Art Deco gem that is now an intimate concert hall featuring such name acts as Chris Isaak , Mother Hips and "Weird Al" Yankovic. The bed The Avia Napa (1450 1st St.; (707)

''Call me naive, but life was pretty good even before I quote-unquote 'made it,' '' said Chris Isaak, whose third album, Heart Shaped World (Reprise), has lifted the singer-songwriter-guitarist from cult figure into full-fledged pop star.''Unlike a lot of musicians, I haven't had to work at any other job to support myself. I've had a record contract for the last five or six years, and I have a band that plays bars and sells them out. I can afford suede shoes and Chinese food three times a week.

If you have disposable income, now is the time to use it. Tickets will go on sale Saturday for a pair of blockbuster summer concerts in Orlando.Blockbuster I: The dynamic Tina Turner will whirl into town for an Aug. 20 concert at the Orlando Arena. Turner is back in the public eye with What's Love Got to Do With It?, a movie about her turbulent years with partner-husband Ike and her subsequent solo career, which took off with the release of Private Dancer in 1984.On her first tour in six years, look for Turner to draw material from throughout her career - ranging from such chestnuts as ''Proud Mary'' and ''Nutbush City Limits'' to ''Better Be Good to Me'' and her latest single ''I Don't Wanna Fight.

WHAT: Singer Chris Isaak is the featured performer for this weekend's installment of Universal Studios' holiday concert series, which takes place at the newly festive Music Plaza in the theme park. Isaak is known for "Wicked Game" and "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing." (Sounds like a naughty list, right?) But he also has an album called Christmas, with classics including "Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer," "Let It Snow" and "White Christmas." WHEN: 7 p.m., Saturday. WHERE: Interstate 4 and Kirkman Road, Orlando.

WHAT: Singer Chris Isaak is the featured performer for this weekend's installment of Universal Studios' holiday concert series, which takes place at the newly festive Music Plaza in the theme park. Isaak is known for "Wicked Game" and "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing." (Sounds like a naughty list, right?) But he also has an album called Christmas, with classics including " Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer," "Let It Snow" and "White Christmas." WHEN: 7 p.m., Saturday. WHERE: Interstate 4 and Kirkman Road, Orlando.

Chris Isaak has had hit singles ("Wicked Game," "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing"), acted in feature films ("Silence of the Lambs," "The Informers," "From the Earth to the Moon") and toured the world. Now add talk-show host to his resume, as he interviews other musicians on the Biography Channel's series "The Chris Isaak Hour." Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, the 53-year-old entertainer lived briefly in Tokyo when he was a college student. Though his hometown of Stockton, Calif.

Chris Isaak doesn't have any trouble staying grounded, and it's not just because he possesses the loose, dude-next-door demeanor of an impeccably well-coiffed steelworker. All Isaak has to do to keep his ego in check is visit the homey little Chinese restaurant around the corner from his San Francisco home, which he does often. "I've been eating there for years," Isaak says on a recent morning. "One night I'm in there, and on the TV is me doing some special. The waitress comes, she's watching this special, and in between watching the special she'd come over and bring me a salad, then she'd go back and watch me sing a song."

The expert: Grammy-nominated musician Chris Isaak, whose new CD-DVD hits stores May 9. The product: A guitar. What I want: The main thing a guitar has to do is stay in tune. If the tuning pegs are crummy, you will sound like the opening band at a frat house. Intonation is a guitar's ability to maintain tune. (Quick-test for it: The 12th fret of the fingerboard is midscale, so each string played at that spot should be the same note an octave higher.) I must have: Strings that don't rattle.

Oh, to peruse the film permits somebody in Baltimore had to grant to John Waters for his long-awaited return to utter cinematic depravity, A Dirty Shame. A street needed to be closed here, a convenience store roped off there. "Streets blocked on Hartford Road to film orgy of sex-addicted zombies who roam the south end at 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Police protection needed for actress wearing gigantic fake breasts (Selma Blair) to do a striptease on a rooftop. Actor (Johnny Knoxville) to have sex with tree at the end of the block.